


Anything Can Happen in the Woods

by ashtopop



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 18:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8337604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashtopop/pseuds/ashtopop
Summary: What happened in the woods, told from two perspectives.Episode 72 Spoilers.





	

She thinks he’s about to walk away, small particles of glimmering snow knocked from the trees above them by the soft breeze even as his footsteps crunch. But as he glances around their surroundings a contemplative look crosses his face, and he turns back, coattails fluttering. In blue and white he looks part of this landscape, a spirit of the ice promising her so much if only she would reach out to grasp it.

He surges back toward her, leaning down, his right hand at her jaw. He tips her face toward him and his lips press against hers, soft and gentle after the violence of the previous day—and, in fact, many of their days. Her wide eyes slide closed, eyelashes fluttering against high cheekbones. He’s warm, and the buttons of his coat press against her. All she wants to do is press back, fingers scrabbling against the thick fabric at his shoulder, leaning up into him on tiptoes. It’s a chaste kiss, but it sets her heart racing. When he pulls away she looks up at him with raised eyebrows, tracing his lips to the icy blue eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses. He tucks a strand of hair back behind her ear in silence, stepping back into the snow, the small grin on his face edging toward smug at her awestruck expression.

“We’ll talk later,” he says, turning on his heel and disappearing back into the ravine, blotted out by sunlight striking snow. She presses her fingertips to her lips and sinks into the snow, glad of her frost-resistant armor as she attempts to grapple with what happened in the woods.

 

Percy has wanted to kiss her for a long time, but until this moment he wasn’t sure she wanted to be kissed. Her cheeks are flushed with more than the cold, perhaps, and she’s stands out in the forest without looking out of place. The woods are her home, and she is beautiful in them—hair like ink and outfitted in shadow but like a beacon to him. When their conversation stutters to a halt, well, he had been waiting for more privacy. The library, for instance. Or his workshop.

But those are his homes, and now he comes to her in hers. There in the snow, forest perched on the edge of a ravine, for the first time in a long time Percival throws caution to the wind and closes the gap between them, cold fingers on her skin as he tilts her head up. Their breath puffs between them, warm and shared, before he leans down.

Her lips are soft on his, and her hand rises to his chest as they kiss. But it doesn’t shove him away. Instead, she grips his lapel, pulling him in tighter even as his fingers tense in her hair. When he pulls away, she lets out a surprised laugh, eyes sparkling and face lighting in a smile. He tucks a thick strand of hair back behind her ear from where it had fallen across her cheek, the pads of his fingers dragging across her cheekbone. He can’t keep the smile off his own face as he steps away.

“We’ll talk later,” he says. He hopes she’ll hold him to it, because he’s been waiting far too long for timing already. By the time he reaches the others he can excuse the pink in his cheeks from cold and exertion, watching crops bloom in the frigid climate. Sometimes, he thinks, something to be grateful for survives even in the harshest conditions, and happens even to those who may not deserve it. Fate is capricious, and now… now he has so much more to lose.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me at [considermehacked on tumblr](http://considermehacked.tumblr.com/)


End file.
